Funding Circle joins Women in Finance Charter

FUNDING Circle is among the latest round of firms to have signed the Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which aims to tackle gender inequality in senior roles.

The Treasury announced on Friday that a further 26 companies have signed up to the Charter, increasing the number of employees covered by the Charter to over 600,000.

More than 160 firms have now joined the initiative. Funding Circle is the third peer-to-peer lender to sign up, following RateSetter and Landbay.

Trade body UK Finance and well-known City brands such as Deloitte, RSA and Old Mutual Wealth are also among the latest signatories.

The Women in Finance Charter asks firms to commit to four industry actions to prepare their female talent for leadership positions. Since the Charter launched, 120 financial services firms have committed to have at least 30 per cent women in senior roles by 2021 and of those, 40 firms have committed to a 50/50 gender split in senior roles by 2021. Today’s new signatories will announce their targets in February 2018.

To coincide with the announcement, Virgin Money has also announced a new Women in Finance app, which will feature video case studies, research and practical tools to support companies who want to act on the gender balance within their organisation.

“This is another excellent group of signatories to the Women in Finance Charter,” said City minister Stephen Barclay.

“Their actions, alongside those of the other signatories, have the potential to make the UK’s pre-eminent financial services sector more representative and more inclusive. I’m keen to see even more firms follow their example and make a positive, public commitment to improve gender balance in our financial services.”

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive of Virgin Money and the government’s Women in Finance champion said: “I’m delighted to see that 162 companies have now signed up to the Women in Finance Charter. Improving the gender balance of the financial services sector will undoubtedly improve productivity, profitability and outcomes for customers.”